Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-12-24
CAUSE OF MALARIAL FEVER.

CAUSE OF MALABLAL FEVER.
Malarial symptoms are disagreeable.
Malarial fevers are extremely dangerous.
With people living steadily in high latl-I
tudes, the question Of how malarial inftu-
ences reach them is one which is ever re-
curing. Many OF our readers, we have
reason to believe, viii be pleased with an
article which throws light on subject OF
such vital importance as the origin OF ma
larial diseases. Bacteria, even in the pop
ular mind, has, we believe, long been con-
ceded to be the cause of malaria. But it
has been supposed, popularly, if not pro-
fessionally, that dry regions were enemies
to the healthy existence of bacteria.
Prof. Kellerman, of the Kansas Agricul-
tural College, in epitomizing recent lect-
ure by Prof. Cohn of Germany, on the ct
iology of malaria, shows that in 1879 the
italian investigators, Klebs and Tommasi-
Crudeli, found in the atmosphere in the
neighborhood of Rome bacillus, or q
micro-organism, belonging to the group
usually designated bacteria, which SEEM
ed to be the specific cause of the malarial
fever Continuing the Investigations. they
were able to demonstrate to a certainty,
and to, the satisfaction of most persons,
the correctness of their assertions. They
showed that in every district in Italy
where this type of fever prevailed the 6a-
c1zzns ualarie was present in the air, soil,
or water, and that it was invariably alb
sent, or at least not to be detected, in
those regions where fever was wanting.
It would be long story to tell the his
tory of the whole matter to the present
time of the objections which have been
raised, how they have all been met, of the
careful experimentation, and the positive
results. Suffice it to say that it has been
shown that this pathogenic micro-organ-
ism is not found alone in swampy or low
regions, much less in water (where, in
fact, it can live, but not multiply, but it
is especially abundant in some elevated
regions, particularly in cultivated dis
tricts. Seventy per cent. of the deaths
from this fever in Italy take place in the
mountainous regions. Some of the low
or streets of Rome, even those occasion
ally flooded by the Tiber, are free from
malaria, while the higher streets in other
parts of the city are from this cause unin-
habitable after sunset.
But the recent Investigations that Prof.
Cohn presents are by DR.. Schiavuzzi of
Pola, with whom he spent part of the
year. This Investigator has contrived
simple apparatus for the culture and
study of the bacill1. He found in every
case that the micro-organism was Excess
sively abundant in the malarial region;
they were more abundant as the temper
allure of the air and the soil became ele-
waited; that there the fever was more prev
alent; that no 6acizlg could be found in
the air where the fever did not appear. In
rapid FLOWING water they were not found;
and but few were detected in stagnant
water of the malarial localities. DR..
Schiavuzzi obtained malarial baciAe from
the air and made cultures in gelatine.
The organisms obtained in this way were
used to inoculate rabbits. In these ami
mails symptoms of malarial fever were
produced. Dissection of the animal show
ed the pathological LESSONS that result
from malarial attacks, even the ameboid
degeneratives of the red blood corpuscles.
These ameboid bodies were, for time,
urged as the cause of the disease, where
as they are one of the pathological results
of the same. Prof. Cohn verified person.
ally all the facts that he made public; he
called attention to the fact that infected
soils that are dampened by dew or gentle
rains, or that are alternately wet and then
very dry, are the source of the 6aci1tr that
are in the air, and consequently favorable
for entrance into the human system; the
soil, when dry and reduced to dust, being
easily taken up and carried by the wind.
CHRISTMAS, 1887.
Christmas will be with us again to-mor-